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I was recently honored to be featured on Veronica Valli’s website as interviewee for her Recovery Rocks series.

Pop on over to read my interview, then kick off your shoes and read through the rest of her series and blog.

An excerpt:

1) Describe your ‘rock bottom.’

That depends on how ‘rock bottom’ is defined. I think the most common definition is ‘the moment when you decide you need help,’ so we’ll go with that. For me it was after losing two jobs back to back due to showing up under the influence, followed by an intervention by my wife and son.

Fifteen-some years ago I picked up a copy of “The Spirituality of Imperfection.” Co-authored by Ernest Kurtz and Katherine Ketcham, it has been a favorite of mine ever since, a book I return to often for guidance and insight. This new offering, Experiencing Spirituality, Finding Meaning Through Storytelling, by the same team, has now joined the first on my shelf of favorite spiritual reads.

In this book, in some ways similar to the first, they address spirituality, not directly by talking about it, but through a collection of wisdom stories sewn together with commentary to create a work that communicates the experience of spirituality. The author’s have divided the book into fifteen sections. Each section examines a single idea, such as community, forgiveness, memory, confusion, recovery and so much more.

This is the kind of book that you can pick up and open to any page for something to contemplate at that moment, or go to a specific topic that you wish to explore. The commentary is masterful and enlightening, while allowing the stories to tell the story.

I have to admit I was skeptical about the author’s topic before I began reading. I know from speaking to people in early recovery that the questions of boredom and fun come up more often than not, and I’ve always taken the stance that those things will work themselves out after the person has established a solid base of recovery. Lisa has not only put together a strong message of hope and encouragement for those just beginning to live sober, she has convinced me to change the way address those questions in the future.

This is a short piece, easily read in one sitting. I recommend it for anyone out there who are wondering, “What am I going to do for fun now that I don’t drink?”

It’s companion book is a day-to-day compendium of a year’s worth of suggested things to do for fun without drinking. Some as mundane as “Sing in the shower,” some as involved as take a day trip to a city you’ve never visited. I have to say I had intended to read 10% the entries for this review, but became so engrossed at the variety and scope of the list that I ended up reading cover to cover. No one is going to find every suggestion helpful, of course, but anyone, in recovery or not, will find a lot of things to do that they would never have thought of. Highly recommended.